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For more than ten years and over nine million downloads Squashed Philosophers has been the favourite way of making sense of The Western Philosophers.

Our abridged editions let you get to grips with a great idea in an hour or so, whether that's to prepare yourself for something bigger, or just for the joy of discovery. These versions are not complete and they're not perfect, but they do let you do something the originals can't - get for yourself a sort of grand overview of the basic universe of human ideas, without having to just take other people's word for it. You'll love them.

Or, if you've got time to read the originals, our Library of complete texts lets you search through hundreds of original books of ideas from about 1000BC almost to the present day, with a single click.

So, what is philosophy?

Philosophy, at least in the Western Way, is something to do with arguing about definitions, so, of course, philosophers have never managed to agree on a definition of Philosophy itself. It seems to be about finding ways of making the world comprehensible, the science of making sense, if you like.

It works like this; once a Philosopher manages to find a little bit of comprehensibility, the search is over, that bit stops being called 'Philosophy' and it becomes a new subject with a new name all of its own. Over the past twenty-five centuries or so that is how Philosophy, the 'Queen of Sciences', has given birth to astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics and all the natural science, as well as psychology, sociology, linguistics and the rest, it is why the greatest experts, no matter what their field, are still called Doctors of Philosophy, and it is why quite a lot of the Old Philosophies here on the Squashed pages, aren't usually called 'Philosophy' any more.

Copyright is waived so that anyone anywhere (who hasn't been told not to) may reproduce these pages for any non-commercial purpose, subject to their acknowledging the source as 'Squashed Philosophers'. There is no need to ask for permission.

For commercial use, you can download the complete Squashed Philosophers website, licensed for unlimited, unrestricted use within the institution of the purchaser for a piddling sixty quid from https://sellfy.com/p/jQlS/

Take care when quoting from texts in the SqaPo pages - these are deep abridgements, the originals may be significantly different.

How come SqaPo hasn't got Geraldo Spodgewangle?

To get included, books have to be significant, famous, and asked-for. If they don't get asked for, they don't get in. Modern works are mostly excluded because their authors aren't sufficiently dead to be out of copyright. The executors of Sigmund Freud, Karl Popper, Alan Turing and others have kindly recognised the value of Squashed Philosophers and donated use of their copyright material, for which I'm very grateful, but other estates want money, and I've already had to pay Ludwig Wittgenstein £80.
And, yes, several of the books here are dangerous or rubbish. Or both. But I'm with John Stuart on this one; best to have them out in the open (and easy to read) so everyone can see how bad they actually are.

I do keep getting asked if, having spent so long dissecting all those wise tomes in such detail, I haven't stumbled upon some magnificent all-embracing solution to the Problems of Philosophy and the World. Well, there is this: Glyn on Human Nature, which I think you'll find highly entertaining. Or, at least, very different. Let me know what you think.

We're famous...

The SqaPo Website has repeatedly been subject to serious, targeted, cyber attack. Are mad fundamentalists or wicked States attempting to destroy this grand disseminator of truth and enquiry? Or just geeks with too much spare time. Know anythin'? Drop me a line